


Lily of the Valley

by TheKnightGarden



Series: Fictober 2019 [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Friendship, Plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 20:24:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20880164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKnightGarden/pseuds/TheKnightGarden
Summary: Mel and her two friends attempt to study a plant.





	Lily of the Valley

Herbology was one of Mel’s favorite subjects. It required the less use of magic and it was mostly memorization. It helped more that Professor Jung was energetic and seemed to love plants more than people. Mel sat next to Nate and Autumn and took out her notebook.

“I heard there was a party with the Lion house. I think we should go,” Nate told her.

“I’m not invited,” Mel stated.

“What? Everyone is invited! They even said-”

“I’m part of the house, remember,” Mel pointed out, showing her lion badge on her uniform. “I’m not invited. They would have told me otherwise.”

“Well that’s not fair. I know! We’ll have our own party. It can just be us three and anyone else who isn’t invited,” Autumn suggested.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s okay. Besides, I need to go into the woods anyway,” Mel said.

“Why do you need to go into the woods?” Nate asked.

“To look for those missing pages, remember. She’s insistent that the pages are in the woods,” Autumn answered.

“I swear, sometimes I think you belong in the Turtle house than the Lions,” Nate said.

Before Mel could say anything more, Professor and Mrs. Jung enter the green house. Mrs. Jung was holding a potted plant that held a flower with gorgeous colors. Professor Jung clapped his hands together, signaling that class was about to begin.

“Good morning, class! Today, we will be discussing poisonous plants. Your potions professor probably already discussed some of them with you about the dangers of prolonging your potion with poison in it. We will discuss the types of plants that can be poisonous and lethal. The reason we need to go over this is because eventually, some of you will go into medicine or creative writing or something and need to identify what the poison was. Some of them could be extremely harmful, while others provide something a bit mild.”

Mel quickly wrote down her notes and stared at the plants in question. Some of them she has seen from Professor Green, but others she’s unfamiliar with.

“We will play a bit of a matching game. On each table in front of you is a poisonous flower-” and with a puff of smoke, there was a flower in front of the three. “-and you must identify the name, the poison, and the cause. I advise you not to touch, eat, or breathe around these plants. They are dangerous and extremely lethal. You must finish in about thirty minutes, and then we can go over each one. And begin."

Mel looked at the flower in question. It looked pretty, with its white bell shaped drooping off the stem. She looked through her book of poisons to indicate which flower it was.

"Wait, you actually bought that?" she heard Nate ask.

"Didn't you? It was on our recommended books to buy," Mel said.

"Yeah, but it said recommended. It wasn't standard or anything. I thought he wasn't going to use it," Nate explained.

"You really need to be more prepared," Autumn commented.

On her side of the table was her own copy of poisonous plants. It looked almost brand new, newer than her copy. 

"Why would I do that when I can look at yours," Nate sneered.

"No fighting. We don't have a lot of time and I'd rather finish this before the triplets finish," Mel warned. 

She could feel Nate and Mel glaring at one another, but silently agreed. Mel looked through her book and saw the same flower that was in front of them.

"Well, I got the name. It's called lily of the valley. It says here that the flower is a highly poisonous woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. The scent is very sweet, but eating parts of the plant could prove highly toxic," Mel read off. She jotted notes down in her notebook and on the piece of paper.

"So should we put slightly toxic?" Nate guessed.

"It says here that consuming its toxic compounds — called cardiac glycosides — can send people to the hospital with symptoms like dizziness, vomiting, rashes, and diarrhea. If left untreated, those little bells can even cause death," Autumn finished 

"So mild to highly toxic then," Nate guessed again.

Before Mel could say anything, she felt something hitting the back of her head. She looked behind her and saw the triplets whispering with one another and giggling. She ignored them and continued writing her notes. She felt something hit her again, this time with more force. She was about to say something, until she felt a presence behind her. She turned around again and saw Professor Jung towering over the triplet’s table.

"And what, may I ask, are you three doing?" Professor Jung asked then.

"We're just playing a game," Mirabelle answered.

"Mel was in on it," Annabelle explained. "Isn't that right, Mel?"

"Well, I hope she isn't because what you have here is an azalea plant. Although it may look beautiful and pretty to look at, the entire plant is highly toxic. Ingesting a flower, stem, or leaf could lead to abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, paralysis, coma, and even death. If this plant had been poisonous to the touch, Miss Villalobos could have been sent to the infirmary and I would contact your parents on why you may be suspended from school. And we don't want that, so we?"

Mr. Jung was almost scary. The triplets stared at him as if wondering how to get him removed from the staff. However, they showed great fear towards his wife, who was watching them in the corner. The three bowed their heads and continued working.

"Well that's new," Nate commented.

"What is?" Mel asked.

"Usually they would get away with their troubling schemes, since they're highly influenced. It's not always like this," Autumn explained.

"Really?"

"I was in the same kindergarten class as them and Isabelle or Mirabelle stole my teddy bear from me, but they turned it around somehow and it has been many years since I've seen Wiggles. I miss him sometimes," Nate said, his eyes having a gazed look. Mel ignored him and began to think a bit.

It was true that she hardly saw the triplets get into any trouble. In most cases, it was often her getting in trouble, despite not throwing the first punch. Her thought were soon interrupted when Mrs. Jung began to collect the papers from their desk. They were soon dismissed and ready to start onward towards the next class.


End file.
